When my oldest was allergic to soy, our allergist said that soy(bean) oil and soy lecithin should be okay. My understanding from other forums (aka "the trenches") is that that is generally the case, HOWEVER not everyone with a soy allergy can tolerate soy oil and soy lecithin. So it's not clearcut.

And I guess if anaphylaxis is an issue, that makes it even harder to "experiment" and see what a person can tolerate. Obviously you don't want to bring on anaphylactic shock...

On the question of whether I should avoid soy-derived vitamin E, my allergist simply said yes. But since there is literally no multi vitamin out there that is allergen-free for me, he said I could try a multi vitamin in his office to watch for a reaction. My own sense of my soy allergy: I've had milder reactions to lecithin. I don't react to vitamin E. But I know that some people do.

While some studies have suggested that there is not enough soy protein in either of these products to caue a reaction, there are in fact reports of reactions to both soy oil and soy lecithin. For this reason, I recommend strict avoidance of all soy-based products for individuals allergic to soy.

Dr. Watson acknowledges that his is the more conservative approach. If the soy oil is refined, there should be only minuscule amounts of protein remaining, and other allergists say that, for most soy-allergic individuals, this is not enough protein to cause a reaction.

So there aren't cut and dried answers - seems to depend on the individual and level of sensitivity. You'd be best to follow your own allergist's recommendation. Mine, like Watson, takes the conservative approach and tells me to avoid ingesting any soy products, since I've anaphylaxed with soy.

However, I have not needed to avoid tocopheryls and vitamin E in skin products - have never had any reactions via the skin.

Although soybean oil was initially thought to be safe for soy-sensitive individuals,42 it is now evident that soy protein may occur in soybean oil.43 Thus the allergenicity of soybean oil would depend on its purity, which in turn depends on the extraction process. Recent evidence has demonstrated that although oxidized soybean oil may not show allergenicity, proteins in soybeans are capable of interacting with oxidized lipid to form products that are allergenic to soybean-sensitive patients.44 Indeed, Hiyama et al.45 report a case of urticaria associated with paren-teral nutrition with an intravenous 10% lipid emulsion containing a soybean oil base. Such reactions, however, appear to be uncommon, and there are very few reports of this nature in the literature.

(emphasis mine)

It sounds to me like this suggests that people who are highly allergic can react not only to proteins but to compounds formed by proteins "interacting with oxidized lipid"???

Gwen, like you I don't avoid vitamin E in skin products--I do wonder though if that could sensitize me more to soy. I would avoid it if it weren't for the fact that soy is in everything!

As far as a skin reaction to soy - I can testify that it's possible... in fact- it's how I discovered I had allergies.

I went to a spa for a pampering session and had a chocolate body wrap. Yes, it's as good as it sounds - warm, chocolate drizzled on you and wrapped in a heated little blanket. Well did I ever swell up. Rash and hives all over.

From that point onward, I've been very skeptical of even my own allergist's comments that soy oil or other derivitives are fine - both inside and on the outside!

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